Saturday, December 13, 2008
Helping Kara and Paul
One of my favorite kinds of wandering is when we go to either Ross or Kara’s and do something all together. That’s what happened the first part of November. Kara and Paul bought a house—they closed on Thursday around 5 pm, and we showed up around 7 pm to ‘help’. When we first walked in, we thought ‘hmmm, it kind of smells like old people—kind of musty, closed up, and maybe some pet smells.
Bob and I had a double sized air mattress that we blew up and made into our bed. Kara and Paul had their futon. Kara had the play that she was working with doing their performances Thursday, Friday, Saturday evenings and Sunday Matinee—so she had to leave for all of those, but she had Friday off from school. So we started cleaning and painting like crazy. I washed out all the cupboards in the kitchen and bathroom. They got a primer paint for all the rooms and we got the two bedrooms, bathroom and living room all done.
We pulled up most of the carpeting so Paul could put in hardwood flooring (and the carpeting was pretty dirty—probably some of the smell). We also managed to get in a couple games of pinochle—even though we had to sit on coolers and use an end table for our table. Where there’s a will—there’s a way!
On Saturday, Ross and Richard came and we really managed to get a lot more painting done—including the main coat on the bedrooms, living rooms, and bathroom. Bob and Paul replaced the toilet and we all got cleaned up and went to the play that evening. The students did a good job and one of the custodians gave us a tour around the theatre and into the library. Hibbing High School is pretty fancy! We’re talking lots of marble, plaster moldings with gilding, huge pipe organ, velvet seats, busts, etc, etc. The building is on the National Register of historic places. 
After the play, we went to Grandma’s for a late supper, however, we discovered they had Prime Rib on Special, so Ross and I and Kara and Paul each shared one. Bob got a salad and Richard got an appetizer.
It’s nice that Kara and Paul are in Hibbing—which is two hours from here and three hours for Ross and Richard—it’s not too far for either of us to drive. So even though we left at 7 pm—we got home by 9 pm.
Bob and I had a double sized air mattress that we blew up and made into our bed. Kara and Paul had their futon. Kara had the play that she was working with doing their performances Thursday, Friday, Saturday evenings and Sunday Matinee—so she had to leave for all of those, but she had Friday off from school. So we started cleaning and painting like crazy. I washed out all the cupboards in the kitchen and bathroom. They got a primer paint for all the rooms and we got the two bedrooms, bathroom and living room all done.We pulled up most of the carpeting so Paul could put in hardwood flooring (and the carpeting was pretty dirty—probably some of the smell). We also managed to get in a couple games of pinochle—even though we had to sit on coolers and use an end table for our table. Where there’s a will—there’s a way!
On Saturday, Ross and Richard came and we really managed to get a lot more painting done—including the main coat on the bedrooms, living rooms, and bathroom. Bob and Paul replaced the toilet and we all got cleaned up and went to the play that evening. The students did a good job and one of the custodians gave us a tour around the theatre and into the library. Hibbing High School is pretty fancy! We’re talking lots of marble, plaster moldings with gilding, huge pipe organ, velvet seats, busts, etc, etc. The building is on the National Register of historic places. 
After the play, we went to Grandma’s for a late supper, however, we discovered they had Prime Rib on Special, so Ross and I and Kara and Paul each shared one. Bob got a salad and Richard got an appetizer. It’s nice that Kara and Paul are in Hibbing—which is two hours from here and three hours for Ross and Richard—it’s not too far for either of us to drive. So even though we left at 7 pm—we got home by 9 pm.
# posted by bjm @ 8:20 PM 
